“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” – Samuel Adams

From Fox News, it seems the McCain campaign has narrowly averted yet another fatal blunder:

Several sources at the RNC told FOX News that in the last 36 hours, senior McCain advisers and aides have told RNC officials that McCain “got the message” last week that choosing a running mate who supports abortion rights would not be helpful.

GOP pundits had been vocal in urging the presumptive presidential nominee not to pick a running mate who supports abortion rights. Ridge, the first homeland security secretary, was said to be on McCain’s short list, and the only candidate who explicitly supports abortion rights.

The McCain campaign has been one big series of blundering into “snatching victory from the jaws of defeat”…even as the campaign has seemed intent at every step on “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

I can’t count the times McCain has done something that’s made me ask, “Does this guy even want to win?” Only to see him stumble on to something that has kept this campaign alive.

Only Barack Obama’s extreme liberalism has been able to keep McCain palatable to conservatives. I’m hoping McCain won’t start taking this for granted, and the fact that he’s faced the music over a pro-abortion VP pick tells me he’s not doing that…yet.